Terry Pratchett (in his many and various Discworld novels) overed this quite clearly.
The Patrician privatised everything. I mean everything All the usual goings on in a big city (eg crime) were arranged much like insurance is today (in our world).
Unfortunately (you knew I was going to say that).... The Fire Department got into the insurance business (have to raise money somehow) - specifically FIRE insurance.
This ended up with them having such pleasant conversations (amongst themselves) while walking down the main business streets.
My My. Such lovely Old Buildings. Wonderful WoodWork. Would be such a shame if one of them should catch fire. Would prolly burn most of the city down. Oh Dear! What a disgrace that would be.
Basically, in our world, most people recognise that such a situation (ie charging to fix something that you should not have broken in the first place) would very rapidly lead to (essentially) rampant wholesale uncontrolled extortion.
If a company were to charge you for security and other bug fixes, they would then have a strong financial incentive to produce shoddy bug ridden software and frequent updates.
Product quality would decrease, and administration overhead would increase.
It's the same issue with charging for software subscriptions. What is their incentive to produce another updated version with new features? After all they've already got your money.
A Software Subscription (with ALL updates FREE for 5 YEARS !!!!) does nothing more than make software updates come out once every 5 years.
Similarly, suppose the publisher could release 3D versions of the NG photos, in the form of a 3D viewing box : wouldn't you expect knobs to turn the photo around left and right, and up and down, on the viewing box?
(a) you're describing inherent and implicit functionality of the medium itself
(b) also your example is a clear-cut case of a new product
The digital storage medium that we all know as Compact Disc does not necessarily as an inherent function of the medium include either an index or even the ability to search.
Therefore, publishing a product on CD does not necessarily as an inherent function of the medium have to include an index or searchability.
Adding those things is adding to the existing product.
Now, Having said all that..... Legal reasonings as to whether that implies that republishing magazine content on CD with a searchable index really qualifies as a "new product" in the terms of whether or not additional payment is required, is an entirely different question. IMNSHO. IANAL. YAPANAL. WENALs. RTFA. RTFAA.
Was this because their compensation is fixed, as opposed to being based on number (of magazines) sold? ie they had no knowledge that their fixed price would include republishing the magazine on different media (eg CDs)
Or was it simply thay they felt they deserved more (eg they realy didn't negotiate their original deal all that well)
If they had merely PDF'd the magazine, and the stuck that on a CD, it would be "the same product".
Any time you modify anything about an existing product, it's "a New Product" (at least, in the marketing sense). How many times have you seen ads for "New and Improved" something-or-other in which the "new" thing is essentially (ie to anyone but a marketing droid) trivial. (can anyone say "concentrated" dishwashing detergent - geez people "we put less water in it, QUICK spin up the marketing machine")
If that's the attitude pushed by product managers, and swallowed by the general population on a daily basis, why should it not apply in this case?
er, I think the point the law-types were trying to make was...
Whether it's printed on Dead Trees(tm) or pitted into polycarbonate discs, as long as it's the same content, then they're just publishing the magazine.
So, as long as it is:
same content
same publisher (ie the one who's already paid for the right to publish)
The fact that it's purely a different physical medium is totally irrelevant.
--------
So back to your point about mirroring websites.... Well, this all centers around an existing right-to-publish. Do you have that? If so , then sure, mirror the website. If not, they you're in flagrant breach of copyright, and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Personally, I *really* like the idea of split-brained articles. (ie such a shame that wasn't done here)
By that I mean the 'default'/'main' article having the not-too-geeky/JoeSixPack-reads-slashdot version, AND includes a link to "for those who want the gory details".
That way the editors have an article which appeals to the vast majority of "reasonably intelligent" people, as well as catering to the hardcore techo-savvy crowd. (ie wrote a brainfuck program before breakfast)
Especially if you actually read the Microsoft technical pages on this issue.
From This Page (FAT File System Technology and Patent License)
# A license for removable solid state media manufacturers to preformat the media, such as compact flash memory cards, to the Microsoft FAT file system format, and to preload data onto such preformatted media using the Microsoft FAT file system format. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit with a cap on total royalties of $250,000 per manufacturer.
# A license for manufacturers of certain consumer electronics devices. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit for each of the following types of devices that use removable solid state media to store data:
That is, they're licensing
preformatted removeable solid-state media
devices which use removeable solid-state media
So, unless you make solid-state media or consumer-electronics devices which use them, you're HOME FREE.
Apparently, they're NOT (currently) requiring licenses for the (generic, in any/all cases, "we own this patented technology") USE of FAT (eg OS drivers).
IN fact, what it looks like, is Microsoft trying to make a few bux of the plethora of Digital Cameras out there.
"The 1,024-tip experiment achieved an areal density of 200 gigabits (billion bits, Gb) per square inch, which translates to a potential capacity of about 0.5 gigabytes (billion bytes, GB) in an area of 3 mm-square. "
"The research team is now building a prototype, due to be completed early next year, which deploys more than 4,000 tips working simultaneously over a 7 mm-square field. "
"Initial nanomechanical experiments done at IBM's Almaden Research Center showed that individual tips could support data rates as high as 1 - 2 megabits per second."
4K * 2Mbps => 8Gbps peak
4K * 0.5 GBytes => 2GBytes (in ~3mm square)
Personally I'd be more than happy with a
Large (~200GB)
Compact (~1 inch , square)
Fast (8Gbps)
Storage medium for, well, just about ANY device which requires 'permanent' storage. SERIOUSLY! I'd be happy with something that has only 1% of that 'in theory' performance.
It just remains to see if they can scale up the size, and achieve their expectations on performance in the final product.
That would be hard to argue, as he's specifically asking for "bad things you've done in the past so that I can educate people how to not have them happen again".
Shame you never bothered to actually read the article you linked to. Even more of a shame you just plain flat-out don't understand the implications of copyright law.
Does this mean that everyone who warbles "Happy Birthday to You" to family members at birthday parties is engaging in copyright infringement if they fail to obtain permission from or pay royalties to the song's publisher? No. Royalties are due, of course, for commercial uses of the song, such as playing or singing it for profit, using it in movies, television programs, and stage shows, or incorporating it into musical products such as watches and greeting cards; as well, royalties are due for public performance, defined by copyright law as performances which occur "at a place open to the public, or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered." So, crooning "Happy Birthday to You" to family members and friends at home is fine, but performing a copyrighted work in a public setting such as a restaurant or a sports arena technically requires a license from ASCAP or the Harry Fox Agency (although such infringements are rarely prosecuted).
So, if someone breaks the law, and then tells you about it afterwards (but before they're brought to justice) doesn't that make you (in legal terms) an accessory after the fact?
Slashdot Mirror
Terry Pratchett (in his many and various Discworld novels) overed this quite clearly.
The Patrician privatised everything.
I mean everything
All the usual goings on in a big city (eg crime) were arranged much like insurance is today (in our world).
Unfortunately (you knew I was going to say that).... The Fire Department got into the insurance business (have to raise money somehow) - specifically FIRE insurance.
This ended up with them having such pleasant conversations (amongst themselves) while walking down the main business streets.
My My. Such lovely Old Buildings. Wonderful WoodWork. Would be such a shame if one of them should catch fire. Would prolly burn most of the city down. Oh Dear! What a disgrace that would be.
Basically, in our world, most people recognise that such a situation (ie charging to fix something that you should not have broken in the first place) would very rapidly lead to (essentially) rampant wholesale uncontrolled extortion.
If a company were to charge you for security and other bug fixes, they would then have a strong financial incentive to produce shoddy bug ridden software and frequent updates.
Product quality would decrease, and administration overhead would increase.
It's the same issue with charging for software subscriptions. What is their incentive to produce another updated version with new features? After all they've already got your money.
A Software Subscription (with ALL updates FREE for 5 YEARS !!!!) does nothing more than make software updates come out once every 5 years.
- (a) you're describing inherent and implicit functionality of the medium itself
- (b) also your example is a clear-cut case of a new product
The digital storage medium that we all know as Compact Disc does not necessarily as an inherent function of the medium include either an index or even the ability to search.Therefore, publishing a product on CD does not necessarily as an inherent function of the medium have to include an index or searchability.
Adding those things is adding to the existing product.
Now, Having said all that..... Legal reasonings as to whether that implies that republishing magazine content on CD with a searchable index really qualifies as a "new product" in the terms of whether or not additional payment is required, is an entirely different question.
IMNSHO. IANAL. YAPANAL. WENALs. RTFA. RTFAA.
Perhaps you could clear this up for me.
The photographers wanted compensation....
Was this because their compensation is fixed, as opposed to being based on number (of magazines) sold?
ie they had no knowledge that their fixed price would include republishing the magazine on different media (eg CDs)
Or was it simply thay they felt they deserved more (eg they realy didn't negotiate their original deal all that well)
If they had merely PDF'd the magazine, and the stuck that on a CD, it would be "the same product".
Any time you modify anything about an existing product, it's "a New Product" (at least, in the marketing sense). How many times have you seen ads for "New and Improved" something-or-other in which the "new" thing is essentially (ie to anyone but a marketing droid) trivial. (can anyone say "concentrated" dishwashing detergent - geez people "we put less water in it, QUICK spin up the marketing machine")
If that's the attitude pushed by product managers, and swallowed by the general population on a daily basis, why should it not apply in this case?
Whether it's printed on Dead Trees(tm) or pitted into polycarbonate discs, as long as it's the same content, then they're just publishing the magazine.
So, as long as it is:
- same content
- same publisher (ie the one who's already paid for the right to publish)
The fact that it's purely a different physical medium is totally irrelevant.--------
So back to your point about mirroring websites.... Well, this all centers around an existing right-to-publish. Do you have that? If so , then sure, mirror the website. If not, they you're in flagrant breach of copyright, and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
PETA heard on the grapevine that ESA was killing beagles, in the pursuit of space exploration.
Expect a strongly worded denunciation and protest march later this week.
For most slashdotters, if it weren't for their hands, they couldn't count.
:-)
take it as you read it
That this article 'bout Half Life has an icon being the Rocket Launcher from Quake 3. (sigh).
As I mentioned in my original comment
(currently)
In other words
- At the moment
- no promises for the future
- we have no real idea what their long term plans are
- this is only what they're telling us right now
I do hope that cleared up any uncertainties you (quite obviously) had.Personally, I *really* like the idea of split-brained articles. (ie such a shame that wasn't done here)
By that I mean the 'default'/'main' article having the not-too-geeky/JoeSixPack-reads-slashdot version, AND includes a link to "for those who want the gory details".
That way the editors have an article which appeals to the vast majority of "reasonably intelligent" people, as well as catering to the hardcore techo-savvy crowd. (ie wrote a brainfuck program before breakfast)
From This Page (FAT File System Technology and Patent License)
# A license for removable solid state media manufacturers to preformat the media, such as compact flash memory cards, to the Microsoft FAT file system format, and to preload data onto such preformatted media using the Microsoft FAT file system format. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit with a cap on total royalties of $250,000 per manufacturer.
# A license for manufacturers of certain consumer electronics devices. Pricing for this license is US$0.25 per unit for each of the following types of devices that use removable solid state media to store data:
That is, they're licensing
- preformatted removeable solid-state media
- devices which use removeable solid-state media
So, unless you make solid-state media or consumer-electronics devices which use them, you're HOME FREE.Apparently, they're NOT (currently) requiring licenses for the (generic, in any/all cases, "we own this patented technology") USE of FAT (eg OS drivers).
IN fact, what it looks like, is Microsoft trying to make a few bux of the plethora of Digital Cameras out there.
"The research team is now building a prototype, due to be completed early next year, which deploys more than 4,000 tips working simultaneously over a 7 mm-square field. "
"Initial nanomechanical experiments done at IBM's Almaden Research Center showed that individual tips could support data rates as high as 1 - 2 megabits per second."
4K * 2Mbps => 8Gbps peak
4K * 0.5 GBytes => 2GBytes (in ~3mm square)
Personally I'd be more than happy with a
- Large (~200GB)
- Compact (~1 inch , square)
- Fast (8Gbps)
Storage medium for, well, just about ANY device which requires 'permanent' storage. SERIOUSLY! I'd be happy with something that has only 1% of that 'in theory' performance.It just remains to see if they can scale up the size, and achieve their expectations on performance in the final product.
That would be hard to argue, as he's specifically asking for "bad things you've done in the past so that I can educate people how to not have them happen again".
Of course, the fact that he just emailed it to me means you (and the RIAA) are too full of assumptions.
If we did a Slashdot POll, the winning choice would inevitably be:
All I have is a 9600bps serial line YOU INSENSITIVE BASTARD.
Shame you never bothered to actually read the article you linked to. Even more of a shame you just plain flat-out don't understand the implications of copyright law.
Does this mean that everyone who warbles "Happy Birthday to You" to family members at birthday parties is engaging in copyright infringement if they fail to obtain permission from or pay royalties to the song's publisher? No. Royalties are due, of course, for commercial uses of the song, such as playing or singing it for profit, using it in movies, television programs, and stage shows, or incorporating it into musical products such as watches and greeting cards; as well, royalties are due for public performance, defined by copyright law as performances which occur "at a place open to the public, or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered." So, crooning "Happy Birthday to You" to family members and friends at home is fine, but performing a copyrighted work in a public setting such as a restaurant or a sports arena technically requires a license from ASCAP or the Harry Fox Agency (although such infringements are rarely prosecuted).
Downloading an MP3 is not a crime.
My nephew recorded an MP3 (his digital voice recorder encodes to MP3 format) of himself singing me Happy Birthday, I downloaded it.
Please tell me which law I broke, exactly?
- 1 Perform Illicit Activity
- 2 Get Caught
- 3 Plea Bargain/Turn States Evidence
- 4 Get let off lightly (and I use that term loosely)
- 5 Write book detailing the exciting life you've led
- 6 Write second book, detailing others who've had similar lives
... Public speaking engagements, TV Shows, etc ad-infinitum ...
Although in this particular case, I believe he skipped 3 entirely and did not do spectacularly well on item 4 either.Remember people, don't take shortcuts!!!
For Serious: Another "wild one" often passed around whas that he could phreak the phone system by whistling into the handset.
Yup! they seriously thought he could blow a consistent and exact 2600Hz (amongst other requisite frequencies) with just his mouth.
As opposed to, for example, hypothetically, some cheap crappy plastic whistle from a box of Captain Crunch.
So, if someone breaks the law, and then tells you about it afterwards (but before they're brought to justice) doesn't that make you (in legal terms) an accessory after the fact?
This is only different in that he doesn't hide behind anonymity.
Face it , people..... Break Laws + Write Book = Profit is a well known and often-used formula.
Books in one sense are very much like music.
Anyone can write a book, can even get it published.
However, of the thousands (hundreds of? or is it millions?) of books published every year, FAR too many of them SUCK for one reason or another.
Having published one, and being comissioned for another based on the strength of the first, this is likely (though not guaranteed) to Not Suck.
Even so, profit is by no means guaranteed.
er, the 'attention' (most especially from the media) occured as a direct result of his being caught, or were you not paying attention at the time?
Hiding under a particularly large rock?
Or perhaps you were on your way here from (for example) Europa?
Obviously this is not in the same league as the recent RIAA "amnesty".
What kind of society becomes created when nobody trusts the other?
Ask me again in 5 years time.